{"id":86874,"date":"2019-09-12T11:28:38","date_gmt":"2019-09-12T18:28:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=86874"},"modified":"2019-09-12T11:33:16","modified_gmt":"2019-09-12T18:33:16","slug":"chairman-nadler-on-the-resolution-of-investigative-impeachment-procedures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=86874","title":{"rendered":"Chairman Nadler on the Resolution of Investigative &#8220;Impeachment&#8221; Procedures"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, D.C&#8230;.Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler delivered the following opening remarks during a markup of a resolution to implement\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/judiciaryforms.house.gov\/components\/redirect\/r.aspx?ID=156-57\">procedures<\/a>\u00a0for future hearings related to the House Judiciary Committee\u2019s investigation to determine whether to recommend articles of impeachment with respect to President Donald Trump:  &#8220;The resolution before us represents the necessary next step in our investigation of corruption, obstruction, and abuse of power.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZkvEo4OqEJg\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/NadlerLogo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"320\" height=\"209\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-86875\" srcset=\"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/NadlerLogo.jpg 320w, https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/NadlerLogo-300x196.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis Committee has already covered the central findings of the Special Counsel\u2019s investigation.\u00a0 The President\u2019s 2016 campaign asked for and received the assistance of the Russian government.\u00a0 Key figures from the campaign then lied to federal investigators about it.\u00a0 The Special Counsel found that, at least ten times, the President took steps to interfere with the investigation.\u00a0 In at least five of those incidents, the Special Counsel concluded that all of the elements necessary to charge obstruction of justice had been met.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur investigation is not only about obstruction.\u00a0 Our work must also extend beyond the four corners of the Mueller Report.\u00a0 We have a responsibility to consider allegations of federal election crimes, self-dealing, violations of the Constitution\u2019s Emoluments Clause, and a failure to defend our nation from future attacks by foreign adversaries.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd, of course, this Committee and others have gone to court to secure evidence that has been withheld from Congress on indefensible legal grounds.\u00a0 Former White House Counsel Donald McGahn is not \u2018absolutely immune\u2019 from appearing before this Committee.\u00a0 We require his testimony for our obstruction investigation.\u00a0 But the President has vowed to \u2018fight all of the subpoenas,\u2019 and this, too, is conduct that requires a congressional response.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs Members of Congress\u2014and, in particular, as members of the House Judiciary Committee\u2014we have a responsibility to investigate each of these allegations and to determine the appropriate remedy.\u00a0 That responsibility includes making a judgment about whether to recommend articles of impeachment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat judgment cannot be based on our feelings about President Trump.\u00a0 It should not be a personal reaction to misguided policies or personal behavior.\u00a0 It must be a decision based on the evidence before us, and the evidence that keeps coming in.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNow, there has been a good amount of confusion, in the press and elsewhere, about how we should talk about this work.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome have said that, absent some grand moment in which we pass dramatically from \u2018concerned about the President\u2019s conduct\u2019 to \u2018actively considering articles of impeachment,\u2019 it is hard to know exactly what the Committee is doing here.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOthers have argued that we can do none of this work without first having an authorizing vote on the House floor.\u00a0 But a House vote is not required by the Rules of the House or by the Constitution, and the argument ignores ample precedents in which no such votes were taken.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere should be no doubt about our purpose.\u00a0 We have been open about our plans in this Committee for many months.\u00a0 The record is recounted in the preamble of the resolution before us now.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn March 4, 2019, we sought information from many sources related to \u2018alleged obstruction of justice, public corruption, and other abuses of power by President Trump,\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn May 8, 2019, we recommended that the House hold Attorney General Barr in contempt.\u00a0 As part of that recommendation, the Committee was clear that our work \u2018includes whether to approve articles of impeachment with respect to the President.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn June 11, 2019, the House approved H. Res. 430, authorizing this Committee to enforce its subpoenas in court.\u00a0 The Committee report stated explicitly that our work includes whether to approve articles of impeachment with respect to the President.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPursuant to that resolution, on July 26, 2019, we asked a federal court for access to grand jury information, and we told the court that it falls to this Committee to \u2018exercise . . . a constitutional power of the utmost gravity\u2014approval of articles of impeachment.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn August 7, 2019, we filed suit to enforce our subpoena for Mr. McGahn.\u00a0 There again, we told the court that we require his testimony in order to help decide whether to recommend articles of impeachment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn each of these documents, we have been explicit about our intentions.\u00a0 This Committee is engaged in an investigation that will allow us to determine whether to recommend articles of impeachment with respect to President Trump.\u00a0 Some call this process an impeachment inquiry.\u00a0 Some call it an impeachment investigation.\u00a0 There is no legal difference between these terms, and I no longer care to argue about the nomenclature.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut let me clear up any remaining doubt:\u00a0 The conduct under investigation poses a threat to our democracy.\u00a0 We have an obligation to respond to this threat.\u00a0 And we are doing so.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cUnder the procedures outlined in this resolution, we will hold hearings that allow us to further consider the evidence against the President.\u00a0 At those hearings, in addition to Member questioning, we will allow staff counsel to participate for one hour, evenly divided between the Majority and the Minority.\u00a0 This will allow us to develop the record in ways that the five-minute rule does not always permit.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe will also allow the President to respond to the evidence, in writing and on the record.\u00a0 No matter how we may disagree with him, President Trump is entitled to respond to the evidence in this way. And we will treat certain, sensitive evidence\u2014such as grand jury information\u2014as being received in executive session. Under these procedures, when we have finished these hearings and considered as much evidence we are able to gather, we will decide whether to refer articles of impeachment to the House floor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a constitutional, historical, and moral obligation to fully investigate these matters.\u00a0 Let us take the next step in that work without delay. I urge my colleagues to adopt this resolution, and I yield back.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington, D.C&#8230;.Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler delivered the following opening remarks during a markup of a resolution to implement\u00a0procedures\u00a0for future hearings related to the House Judiciary Committee\u2019s investigation to determine whether to recommend articles of impeachment with respect to President Donald Trump: &#8220;The resolution before us represents the necessary next step in our [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":86875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/NadlerLogo.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=86874"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86874\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/86875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=86874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=86874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=86874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}